Texas State Senator Wendy Davis; Political Opportunist

Wendy Davis excels at keeping herself in the news. In June, the pro-abortion Texas state senator became a liberal darling by filibustering against a bill that would have banned abortions after twenty weeks (a ban which has since become law). Now she's contemplating a run at the Governor's mansion.

Davis maintains that pro-life women don't understand what a ban on abortion after twenty weeks really means: "I again think that a lot of people don't really understand the landscape of what's happening in that arena today and what an incredibly small percentage of procedures take place there." That's right out of the liberal playbook: if you disagree with me you must not really understand the facts. And, besides, since the horror of dismemberment is only being perpetrated against a small number of victims, that makes it okay.

Davis talks about common ground with pro-lifers, but refuses to accept any real limits on abortion. When asked if there was any "week-limit" she would support, she responded: "You know, those conversations are the kind of conversations that could and should be taking place if we didn't see such extreme positioning. But unfortunately our Republican colleagues weren't interested in having reasonable conversations like that."

Absurdly, Davis went on to declare that she was duty bound to take a stand on the "sacred ground" of late-term abortion.

Sacred ground? A procedure which the majority of Americans support banning is sacred ground? Lord help us! Are abortions sacrifices to Molech? Apparently, for liberals like Senator Davis, the systematic dismembering and destroying of innocent children is akin to a sacrament!

But we probably shouldn't be so surprised. For decades pro-aborts have genuflected at the altar of abortion, refusing to place any limits on this open-ended sacred right to kill those whom we find inconvenient.

Senator Davis's extreme views notwithstanding, there is nothing sacred about the murder of unborn children. Abortion is rooted in self-centeredness, a self-centeredness that puts the needs and desires of the parents above the life of their child and that holds that inconvenience warrants death.

Senator Davis knows how to appeal to this selfish impulse. Tell people their self-centered act is a sacred right-that'll win you some votes! Take a stand, get some headlines, ride a plane to a couple of Washington, D.C. fundraisers, issue a few more provocative quotes to keep your name in the news, and tell everyone you're thinking about running for governor. It's a common path for politicians, but few have used the "sacred ground" of late-term abortion as their touchstone.

Davis has proved herself nimble in the political dance. She speaks patronizingly of political common ground while staking out a minority position far to the Left. She dismisses the mainstream opinion as extreme and unreasonable while conferring sainthood on herself. When asked about compromising, she won't provide any suggestions or examples. She knows that it pays to talk like a moderate but act like an extremist-at least, when running for office.

Sadly, there are some Americans (many of whom are members of the media) who see Davis as a crusader for women's rights. For them, her artful conversion of selfishness to sacrament has great appeal. Making abortion a "cause" deserving of passionate protection is easier for them to swallow than recognizing the grisly reality of killing another human being. Pro-abortion advocates like Davis pontificate about defending women who must be protected from curmudgeons in the political arena, while paving the way for the murder of millions of defenseless unborn children.

Are there enough Texans excited to promote this "right" to win Senator Davis the Governor's mansion? It doesn't look like it. Texas leans Republican, and even the national polling trends are against Senator Davis's views. A Gallup poll earlier this year showed 64% of Americans are opposed to abortion in the second trimester, and a full 80 percent oppose it in the third trimester. In her defense of abortion, Senator Davis is in the distinct minority.

It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to build a political career on the carcasses of dead children. But then, it once seemed absurd that anyone would campaign for a "right" to kill children. Americans must ask ourselves, if someone is willing to use the killing of innocents as their stepping stone to political power, are they worthy of our affirmation or should they become anathema? The future of Wendy Davis will tell us a lot about our country's future.

Ken Connor is the Chairman of the Center for a Just Society in Washington, DC, the former President of the Family Research Council, and a nationally recognized trial lawyer.